Hmm, you know, I don't know how to make of this situation.

  So, after a few days of pying around, I decided to get to Deliah's house... where I saw Athen handling the decorations for the wedding.

  I am just staring at her, and she stares at me. I can sense the awkward air coming from her. So she is my aunt...

  "Oh, hello Charlotte.", Deliah came to the rescue, carrying a box with her to the outside, "Welcome, my sister... why are you two staring at each other?"

  I spoke first, "I came here to say hello, Deliah."

  "Oh! Then I am gd you are here!", that smile was fake, "Since the house is a bit busy at the moment, I can't accommodate you yet... aunty, could you help Charlotte get around?"

  "S-Sure...", Athen had a strained smile on her face, "Charlotte, would you like to see the garden?"

  I nodded, "I would love to."

  "You two have fun!", she waved and left.

  Silently, I followed Athen to the backyard, where there are too many poisonous pnts to be deemed legal... most of them are trimmed nicely, so this pce was taken care of really well.

  Then I smashed Athen in the stomach with my briefcase. She kneeled from the sudden pain, with me looming over her.

  "Charlotte... I can expin.", she gasped.

  "I don't feel the mood to listen to reasonings right now.", I stated.

  I don't feel angry, just disappointed. I had my suspicions but never acted on them, from how simir she looked to me to why she desperately tried to grasp a hold of my life.

  She wanted to protect me, albeit in a violent way, because I was...

  Her family.

  What took her so long to come to me? Was I the reason she joined Babel? I could just read her book to find out... but no matter the reason, I don't think I'll be ever satisfied.

  "Honestly, I should've figured this out sooner or ter. Without your presence. I would've sorted my emotions first before confronting you."

  "As always... you are fucking unreasonable.", she stood up.

  I attempted to kick her again, but she grabbed my foot before I hit her. So with Desire, I moved to the back of Athen with electricity crackling.

  "I need to hurt you a little more to get rid of my frustrations.", I kicked her again.

  But this time, I stopped before I touched her. I could only let out a sigh, as I sensed someone coming.

  "Be careful.", it was Kratos, moving a pole, "This pce is quite dangerous."

  He walked away as both of us stared.

  "Huh, he really exists.", Athen commented.

  "What do you mean by that?", I asked.

  "Well, this is actually the first time I met him. I just thought he was Deliah's imaginary friend for her to cope with being alone.", she said, taking a few steps away from me, "So... could we leave this fucking mess for ter?"

  "Sure.", I nodded, "I will kick your ass ter."

  "Still a violent bitch as always.", then she noticed my left arm, "What the fuck happened?"

  "Oh.", I took off my sleeve, revealing the horrible scar I had, "Just an investigation gone wrong."

  "WHAT HAPPENED?!", she tried to take hold of my arm, but I moved back before she could grab me.

  "I learned a lesson of hubris.", I stated, putting the sleeve back on, "Elderstahl got hands."

  In hindsight, fighting against a literal sword with a sword wasn't a good idea. Especially when it was made of eight different worlds. And using fire against fire was a terrible idea, should've gone with Survive or Euphoria.

  "This isn't the time to be joking! Charlotte, when something is wrong you should take it seriously!!"

  "I already passed that period.", I clicked my tongue, "Stop saying this and that, I know what is best for myself."

  "You clearly fucking don't.", she retorted.

  I went ahead and grabbed her throat, with electricity crackling around me. I grit my teeth. She tried to push me away but to no avail.

  "You don't know me, and you will never. Frankly, I would rather not know that you are my aunt, because I don't want a failure of a maniputor as my blood retive.", I stated, letting her go, "No matter how many times you die... I will kill you without fail if you act up again."

  Since Athen can revive over and over again, I can just end her life repeatedly and not kill her.

  "Alright... I won't say anything.", Athen frowned with sadness, she looked over to the house, "But promise me one thing... you will not cause any trouble when you are here."

  "Sure, it's not like I actively seek out trouble, I am just a magnet for troublesome things."

  Iscariot said it before, I am the center of the world, everything revolves around me. Through the strings of fate and dominos of destiny, I cannot escape whatever shenanigans meant for me.

  =0=0=

  After a while of touring around the house, I learned the fact that there was almost no privacy here. As there are only a few doors for the front and back, plus a few toilets and bath... everything else was connected with only thin walls to separate them.

  It is extremely unsafe, not counting the poison garden.

  But I can't say anything. This isn't my house, and it will never be.

  Right now, I am helping my sister with her wedding. Specifically, I swiped my card. My gambling money and mission sary.

  This made Deliah quite excited, truly excited in fact. If there is one thing every human, no matter if they have mental illness or not, love. It is cold, hard cash.

  "How many people are you inviting?", I asked.

  Sitting next to each other on the sofa, she was in a daze about the amount of money I offered. But she soon snapped out of it.

  "About twenty people, mostly my friends with their families. Oh, and the former Prime Minister of France, Lady Florence Silvi, she's our grandpa's sister."

  Huh, so I am really partly French.

  "Why would our grandaunt come?", I inquired.

  "Because she doesn't have that many years left, so it would be fitting that she would want to see my wedding before she perishes.", Deliah smiled, returning to her mask, "Really, that woman could drop dead any second now."

  "Sounds like you don't like her that much.", I commented as I picked out the most expensive wedding dishes I could get my hands on.

  "A bit too clingy for my liking.", her mask faltered for a second, but soon she smiled, "But I don't hate it."

  "Hmm.", I stopped my hands as I found an interesting article, "Hey Deliah, did you know that you could host a wedding at the Parthenon?"

  "What? The reconstruction just began a month ago. Let me see it.", she leaned over to look at the tablet I was borrowing, "Oh wow, two million Euros. Even if you lend us your money, I won't accept it."

  Okay...

  "Since you will do the ceremony here, let's focus on the parade.", I stated and went looking for a car.

  "It may be my special day, you already provided the money so you don't need to do anything else, Charlotte—"

  "Shh...", I shut her up with Euphoria, "Let me make the outline, you can fill in the details ter."

  "Now, limo or Lamborghini, and what color?"

  "Um... limo would be alright."

  "What color? They have white, red, and blue avaible."

  "I want something more fancy... so blue."

  I booked a blue limousine for a wedding parade. Hmm... there is an option to rent a driver, I want to drive but considering the st time I drove a car I went to jail...

  Yeah, I rented a driver for the better. Hey! I am making better judgments!

  "Hmm... I don't have anything else that I can think of. You have three million dolrs to spend after all.", I gave her the tablet and left the sofa.

  "Do you have any chalk in your art supply?", I asked, intending to go upstair.

  "Oh, yes. It's in the left drawer, the fifth one from top to bottom.", Deliah stares at me with a hint of curiosity, "There is an empty canvas in the corner of the room, you can use it however you like."

  "Thanks, sis.", I smiled.

  "No problem, sis.", she smiled back.

  Although I can never truly get along with a psychopath, one thing I do appreciate about them is their dedication to being normal.

  Going upstair, I entered Deliah's room, which was a mess and a half. Not in my kind of mess with objects lying around, but in the sense that there are paints all over the pce, she must be a pretty violent painter, stroking around the pces like a warzone.

  Anyway, I quickly found a box of white chalk and took the canvas for myself. Sitting in a corner I began to doodle while smoking.

  Letting the Euphoric Dust take hold of my mind...

  Alchemy, as written down, is the school of transmutation, to change from one form into another, iron in silver, lead into gold... breaking down materials into atoms— no, quarks even— and reassembling them according to a tempte created from Quantum particles.

  To utilize the ws of the universe, bending the rules of the world with willpower and desire...

  This is the Magic of Humanity, Alchemy.

  The problem is that I can't use Alchemy's creation manipution since my emotions, on top of being suppressed by Survive, is already suppressed by my sociopathy. It is quite literally impossible for me to fully use Alchemy...

  Unless...

  I look at the piece of chalk in my hand... and lick it. Dry.

  My fascination with chalk isn't just on a whim... and not because it is white. It's more of an instinct than anything.

  In Alchemy, chalk represents purity, an untouchable innocence. But there is something more to it than meets the eye, as it is really good at absorbing moisture...

  Thinking back to my encounter with Elderstahl, I noticed her leg lost its color after touching my tainted stripes of grey...

  That was my Inner World, partially so as I am unable to fully form it. The reason is that a chunk of my soul disappeared after that Jeopardy game with Sincir...

  ...And when Gilgamesh came to me, my soul shattered again. So just about everything about my soul is fucked.

  But with my "chalk"... I can absorb other's souls if they stay in this zone long enough—

  Oh...

  I see...

  Reverie can break down anything it touches into the Sludge of Imagination... it is simir to the first transmutation stage of Alchemy, Nigredo (Bckening).

  Then Desire... would be Albedo (Whitening), the second transmutation stage... purifying the material...

  So that would make Malice the final stage, condensing what is left after purification... Rubedo (Reddening).

  My powers are the representations of humanity, for what it is, what value it carries, both the good and the bad. So it would make sense that this power based in Alchemy, the Magic of Humanity, would be something about melting down others' souls, purifying it to the base form, and taking it for myself.

  Ah~ I can feel my cheeks heating up, I am one step closer to Sincir...

  I can't help but smile and ugh at myself. I hate Sincir, that is true, but I can't help but love her for who she is. She is me after all, she already told me her story through her song. A tragedy, a downward spiral of insanity, leaving her with nothing left but an empty world with nothing to prove herself with.

  It is the nature of life to want to be remembered, to leave behind a legacy... and I am her Legacy.

  Oh... I drew the Qliphoth Tree... hehahaha~

  Let's see how I will turn out... Sincir Apocrypha.